About Kathy
Aloha! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog ^_^
My name is Kathy and I was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. I love to eat, I love to cook, I love everything about food. Especially food in Hawaii.
This blog has been 15 (!) years in the making. I started a blog in 2004 called A Passion for Food. It was a personal food blog for friends/family, documenting eats between Hawaii and NYC (where I was living). In 2010 I changed the name of the blog to Kathy YL Chan. The content on the blog evolved from only food, to a mix of food and travel (I was a food/travel writer), and then to food and my work in the tea industry (more on that here).
Over time the blog got “confused.” Some people expected to see blog posts about Hawaii food (my favorite thing in the world). Other people expected posts about my professional work in tea. It was stressful. The blog felt half-personal, half-professional, and not committed in either direction.
I was torn for years about what to do, and finally, thanks to support (and a lot of help) from my husband Bin and friend Jee, I started Onolicious Hawaii in 2019. I hope you’ll use this blog as a resource and guide for Hawaii food. There are many onolicious things to eat and discover on our islands. Come enjoy!
Email: aloha (@) onolicioushawaii.com || Instagram: @onolicioushawaii
What to expect on this blog?
- Guides to Hawaii and Hawaiian (two different things) food. Friends always ask, what is poi, what is lau lau, what is saimin, etc. The food we have in Hawaii is completely different from the rest of the world. I’ll break down popular local foods, talk about what it’s made of, what it tastes like, and most important, where to eat it!
- Recipes! All the good kind local dishes we grew up eating ^_^
- Hotel/lodging guides. The hotels in Hawaii are incredible and so unique. I’ve been lucky enough to have stayed at most of them. We’ll look at the pro/cons, insider tidbits, etc of each hotel.
- Eating guides. I’ll organize these guides by: neighborhoods, islands, and specific food cravings. Let me know if you have other ideas.
Fun reads:
- My work in tea in the New York Times, by the magical Ligaya Mishan
- A few of my favorite Hawaii desserts for Eater
- Tea on the Big Island for Eater (fun fact: Hawaii is one of the few places in the US that can grow tea!)
- Honolulu restaurant guide for Condé Nast Traveler
- Video with Zagat on my work in tea
Blog/life evolution:
- I originally started blogging on Xanga in the early 2002. Switched to Blogger in 2004. Then SquareSpace in early 2010. Went to WordPress in 2014 and I’m good here.
- I’ve gone through several cameras, small and big, you name it. In 2013 I “discovered” the Sony Rx1 and never looked back. It’s the perfect combination of everything.
- People often ask what I do for work exactly. I was once a baker and pastry cook, then a food/travel writer for a long time. Then I got deep in the tea world which was a fortunate, completely unplanned turn. This allowed me to work with beverage companies, hotels, restaurants, and cafes/bakeries and learn and see things I never thought possible. Life can be wildly interesting and amazing. Before all of that, I was a blogger. And I think I will remain a blogger till the very end.